2005B Instrument Availability and Target Accessibility

Instrument Availability and Target Accessibility: 2005B

The tables below
indicate the current best estimates of instrument availability and corresponding
target (RA, dec) accessibility for 2005B. Typically
several observations or programs are rejected at the ITAC each semester because
of target accessibility so please read carefully the
following notes:

For each given declination, the table shows the target RA that has
two hours above airmass = 2 at the start of the night early in the semester
("minimum" RA) and the target RA that has two hours above
airmass = 2 at the end of the night late in the semester ("maximum"
RA).

For some high and low declinations (noted *), an airmass limit of
2.5 is used.

If best image quality is desired, typically achieved at smaller
zenith distance, the RA range should be reduced appropriately.

The comments column indicates whether all RAs are potentially observable.

"no restriction" means that all RAs are potentially observable.

"restricted" means that only RAs between the
"minimum" and "maximum" can be accepted for
observation in this semester. Targets with RA less than the "minimum" will set too early in
the night and cannot be observed; targets with RA greater than the
"maximum" will rise too late in the night and cannot be observed.

At
the extrema of the RA range, shown by the early- and late-semester values, targets
may not be observable in practice due to detailed instrument and
engineering schedules and other constraining factors (e.g. lunar phase). Moreover, the time for which the target (RA, dec) is
accessible may be very limited and applicants should bear this in mind for
faint targets. The likelihood of execution is greatly increased if
extreme RAs are avoided.

In some cases, an instrument or instrument mode is foreseen to
be available for only part of the semester. Such instances are listed after
the main table.

Gemini
North

Instrument(s)

declination
(deg)

RA range (hh
mm)

Comments

"minimum" RA
(early semester)

"maximum" RA
(late semester)

NIRI (including
Altair)

GMOS North

Michelle

80 *

no restriction

14h 50m

15h 50m

70

no restriction

15h 20m

15h 20m

60

no restriction

14h 40m

15h 50m

50

no restriction

14h 40m

16h 00m

40

no restriction

14h 30m

16h 10m

30

no restriction

14h 40m

16h 00m

20

no restriction

14h 50m

16h 00m

10

no restriction

15h 00m

15h 40m

0

no restriction

15h 10m

15h 30m

-10

restricted

15h 30m

15h 10m

-20

restricted

16h 00m

14h 40m

-30

restricted

16h 40m

14h 00m

-40 *

restricted

17h 00m

13h 40m

HIRES (on Keck)

all

restricted

Available for
one night around 12-16 August, two nights around 20-24 October and two
nights around 7-11 December